Of Pigeons and Statues…

30082005

I’ve always had roles around me who stand out in my memory. Of the lot, one of the most prominent would be Mr. Witty, who thrives on the happiness of others. He takes every possible opportunity to ridicule the other. Every chance, to bring out the satire. It could be imitation or plain verbal abuse. In most cases, he has his own loyal following who laugh at his every “joke”. Who seem to have the time of their lives. A common strand running through this true hearted group is one, their poor sense of humour, and two, their very poor sense of humour.
I could never stand Mr Witty And as far as I know, the best strategy for confronting him is not confronting him. Avoidance. He can always take your case, be it your best day, and (God have mercy on you!) your worst! What they don’t realise is the fact that it is not because of ignorance that he is not being hurled revilements in return, but because of decency. The refusal to go down to Mr Witty’s modus operandi. In most cases, Mr Witty never realises this and it often takes a good, brave friend to enlighten him.
Mr Witty is a role and not a character. All of us have been him at some point of our lives. Some of us are/were lucky to get a brave friend to tell us. I, for one, am one of them. Owe a lot to these friends of mine, for telling me how irritating I could get. Seriously a lot.
Sometimes ridicule is good. It helps in the team building process. As a matter of policy, I don’t take the case of someone for something he/she can’t change. You really have to be in the other persons shoe to feel the desperation, to feel the pain. To know, that you can’t do anything about it and you are stuck with it for life. Physical attributes for one. I, myself, have been in similar positions plenty of times. Target of friends and family.
There have been moments. In the case of my younger bro, for instance, I would have just come up with the most irritating line. Then realise how I felt when my brother did that to me. And retrace.
Sometimes u get to be the pigeon and sometimes ………..u are the statue.